Language,Weather

Vietnamese Language

Vietnam’s official language is
Vietnamese, a tonal language spoken as a mother tongue by 90% the country’s
population. Vietnamese is written using a 29 letter alphabetical system.
However, the accent of Vietnamese varies from province to province. Besides Vietnamese,
around 50 other languages are spoken by ethnic minorities. English is a popular
foreign language and is used in most offices, restaurants… in big cities or
tourism places. French, Russian, Chinese, Japanese… are also popular and can be
found in tourist places.

Vietnamese:
Vietnamesebelongs to the Austro-Asiatic language group. It is mother
tongue to nearly 85% of the country’s population and an additional 3 million
Vietnamese living abroad and is the 17thmost spoken language in the world (Ethnologueestimate 2005).

The
language is most closely related to Khmer but is heavily influenced by Chinese
and somewhat influenced by French. It is a mono syllabic language.

Tones:Vietnamese
seems complicated to foreigners because it is mono syllabic and has six
different tones. Hence, sounds that are slightly different will have totally
different meaning. The 6 tones of Vietnamese are:

Level: ba
(three/dad)

High
rising: bá (to hug)

Low
falling: bà (grandmother)

Dipping-
rising: bả (poison)

High
rising glottalized: bã (trash)

Low
glottalized: bạ (random)

Dialects:Vietnamese
is spoken differently depending on geographic location. Each region and
province has its distinct dialect. Even though grammatical differences are
negligible, Vietnamese varies greatly in tone, accents and even vocabulary. For
example, “ch” and “tr” sounds are distinct in the South but are merged by
Northerners. The Hanoi
accent is considered the “standard” Vietnamese.

Writing:Many
find it surprising that Vietnamese is written by Latin letters. Vietnamese used
to be written based on a complicated Siniform script that was based heavily on
Chinese; hence was not popular.

During
the 17thcentury,
Roman Catholic missionaries introduced a Latin-based orthography for
Vietnamese,Quốc Ngữ(national language) with 29 letters
and is now used widely and officially.

Other
minority languages:

Vietnam has 53 other ethnic groups besides Viet (making up nearly
10% of the population, many living in mountainous areas), each with their own
languages. 24 even have a written form. A few popular languages besides
Vietnamese are:

Chinese: spoken by Ethnic Chinese immigrants who have
settled in Vietnam
during the last 300 years, living mainly in big cities and provincial towns.

Muong: spoken by the Muong ethnic group inhabiting
the Northern mountainous regions of Vietnam.

It is
not necessary to know these languages when visiting places with ethnic
minorities, as Vietnamese is a common language used between groups.

Languages
you speak:

Englishis the most popular foreign language in Vietnam and is
taught is school. Many people speak English and information in English can be
found easily in big cities such as Hanoi or Ho
Chi Minh; and growing tourist places such as Da Nang or Nha Trang. Guides in English are
usually offered.

French
and Russianare fairly popular, especially in Northern
Vietnam.

Japanese,
Korean and Chineseare also growing in popularity. Tours in these languages
are also possible depending on location and agency.

Vietnam Weather - Climate

Vietnam’s weather varies from the
sub-tropics in the North to the tropics in the South. The humidity is high,
with average ranging around 84% a year. Moderated by two monsoons, the
average temperature (from 22 to 27) is lower than other countries also in the
equatorial regions. The weather varies greatly from North to South, depending
on elevation and type of landscape.

Northern
Vietnam (from Hue
up North) has four seasons with a cold winter and hot summer. The temperature
ranges from 5-6C in winter to up to 35C in summer. The further North it is, the
colder it gets. In mountainous regions in the far North (such as Sapa) the
temperature some times drops below zero. Rainy months are August, October,
November. February and March have persistent, light, drizzling rain.

Central Vietnam

Temperatures
are high all year round. The temperature tends to be warmer and more humid than
the South in the middle of the year and cooler during the dry season from
November to April. Flooding may occur from October to December.

Southern Vietnam

Has
a distinct dry season (from November to April) and wet season (from May to
October). Average temperature ranges from 25-30C. During wet months, heavy
and short downpours may occur in mid-afternoons.

Vietnam weather by month:
Categorizing Vietnam weathe
by month with information on what to expect for each month in Vietnam.

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Vacation Deals Vietnam is one of the first and leading online Tour Operators in Vietnam who specializes in Vietnam and Indochina Travel Packages, cruises in Vietnam and Mekong Delta, hotel and resort reservations, car rental, ticket bookings... etc..., Serving many different consumer segments from Individuals to groups' bookings with prompt reply and reasonable costs. We are always willing to help all travelers to Vietnam. You can get our valuable guides about accommodations, visa granting, transportation in Vietnam, etc just by sending a email for us – booktouronline@gmail.com. We will mail back around 12 hours.